China's pyjamas police fight Shanghai's daytime love of nightwear

A local community in Shanghai has set its sights on one of urban China's most intractable social problems: the wearing of pyjamas in public.

The neighbourhood committee – a volunteer outpost of the Communist Party – in the city's north-eastern district of Rixin has decided that wearing pyjamas in the street should be discouraged.



"We're telling people not to wear pyjamas in the street because it looks very uncivilised," Guo Xilin, a local official said.

As China has become richer, the practice has only become more common: having a smart pair of pyjamas shows you can afford not to have to sleep in long-johns and string vests.